Competition: I have polished and submitted my piece to the Hunter Writer’s Centre grieve project. It’s a fabulous feeling to submit something that was positively received by my writing group, mum and cousin. And so, even if I don’t get anywhere with it, I know that I gave it my all, unlike my attempt with the NYC Short Story Challenge.

What will the next week bring? I need to write the next part of my anthology piece, and possibly wrap it up in a conclusion if that’s where it leads to. I need to review ‘The Promise Seed’ by Cass Moriarty (spoiler: go and read it!). And, it would be awesome to write at least another 3300 words – I think I’ve given myself a personal best that I need to beat!

One of the reasons that I am ramping up the novel writing, is the fact that I am heading to the Romance Writers of Australia annual conference in Adelaide in August. To say I am excited is an understatement. While I don’t write in the genre of romance, I do write women’s fiction, and there is often an undercurrent of romantic themes. Or just sex. Or affairs. You get my drift. This conference is meant to be one of the best writing events that you can go to. Or so I’ve heard! I would love to be able to attend with a fair chunk of my novel written; while I won’t be pitching, I will definitely be networking, and surely it will be a bonus to have most of a manuscript under my belt. Let’s see how I go. Nothing like a ‘deadline’ to make me try harder!